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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20180122T100845Z
DTSTART:20180207T140000Z
DTEND:20180207T150000Z
SUMMARY:Sociology seminar 7th Feb 2-3pm Dr Rob Meckin
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}y12-jcq1ufb
 c-uazecm
DESCRIPTION:You are warmly invited to the first Sociology Seminar of 2018
 \, to be given by Dr Robert Meckin.\n\nTitle: Embodied and situated enga
 gement with possibilities: anticipating biotechnological futures in the 
 production and use of menthol \n\nAbstract\nMint and menthol are widely 
 used flavours and fragrances that have distinctive interactions with the
  human senses. Products containing mint and menthol\, such as muscles ru
 bs\, shower gels and chewing gums are important components in diverse pr
 actices of care\, hygiene\, leisure and illness. Flavours and fragrances
  including menthol are targets for synthetic biology\, an approach to li
 fe sciences where multidisciplinary teams apply design principles with a
 n aim of making biology easier to engineer. Current political and scient
 ific policies advocating responsible research and innovation (RRI) sugge
 st that researchers should engage stakeholders and anticipate issues ari
 sing with novel technologies. This paper describes a sociological approa
 ch to anticipation that focused on people’s everyday practices by engagi
 ng their senses. \n\nThe future has a rich history in sociological study
  and has been treated in a variety of ways. However\, studying the not-y
 et poses methodological and analytical challenges for sociology. Recent 
 discussions in science and technology studies (STS) and other areas of r
 esearch have critiqued representationalist and performative accounts of 
 the future and posited practice-based approaches. This argument draws on
  these theoretical discussions to describe an approach to the future inv
 olving object-elicitation interviews and home tours that situates antici
 pation in people’s embodied experiences. Sensory engagement can stimulat
 e rich discussions about people’s ethical commitments and how they antic
 ipate the possibility of consumer products that could contain biosynthet
 ic menthol\, and indicates a complementary approach to contemporary tech
 nology governance. \n\nAll welcome.  Tea and coffee provided.
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:Arthur Lewis Boardroom\, Arthur Lewis Building\, Manchester
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